For the past several weeks I’ve been revising (and finally writing an ad for) my Copywriting Grab Bag book.
While re-reading appendix 2 (the interview with Doberman Dan Gallapoo) I came across this fun little snippet and got a hefty laugh from it (as well as a hard kick in the arse because I haven’t been following the advice.)
Doberman Dan worked side-by-side with the late, great copywriter Gary Halbert. And the short lesson below is just one (of many) excellent Gary Halbert lessons he shared.
Anyway, here goes…
DOBERMAN DAN: I feel like I’m the lone voice in the wilderness crying out this truth that nobody believes until they actually try it. But if you’ve got an online business and you’re not keeping a database of your customers’ physical snail mail addresses and sending them direct mail at least every month… I’m going to have to channel the spirit of Gary Halbert. If you’re not doing that then you are a complete 100% shit weasel.
If Gary were here and he met an online marketer who wasn’t sending direct mail I think he’d probably whack ’em upside the head and call them a shit weasel. Because that one thing alone… can literally double your business in 30 days or less. I love the response I get when I tell online marketers this. And I’ve given this advice away freely which I will no longer do. In fact, this is the last time I’m going to give this away free, Ben. Because this is million dollar advice. But when I give it away free people don’t seem to value it.
I spoke with an owner of one of the biggest online marketers of supplements and asked about how often they’re snail mailing their list. And he said, “We don’t keep a database of snail mail addresses once we ship the order.” And I thought you’ve got to be kidding. Here’s a company that—based on the current sales—could probably add an additional $5 million per month if they would—and that’s on the low side based on my experience—if they send direct mail snail mail to the list every month. But the response is, “Yeah, but we capture email addresses. And we send a weekly, daily, whatever email promotion.”
Well, for a lot of reasons the emails are not getting through to the recipients nowadays with spam filters and all the other problems. Or, people’s inboxes are so crammed full of stuff, they’re deleting stuff. You know this, Ben, stuff you’ve even subscribed to that you want to get you probably delete a lot because you don’t have time to read it. So an email nowadays has a very low perceived value. But an actual snail mail letter or promotion that somebody holds that they received in their mailbox and hold in their hot little hands still commands more attention than an email in my most humble—but accurate—opinion.
You can read the rest of this fascinating interview with Doberman Dan in Appendix 2 of The Copywriting Grab Bag.
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